There is still 3 months until it starts, but I'd like to get some feedback on possible improvements. I thought the last competition was very successful, excluding a minor delay in the judging results. But there is always room for improvements, so here's your chance.

I would like to shorten the competition from 3 months (Dec, Jan, Feb) to just 2 months (Dec and Jan). IMO 3 months is too long, add to that maybe one more month for judging (if it's delayed), so 4 months total. Can be boring for people to submit a game and not see the results sooner than 4 months later. It's also harder for judges and management of the competition to stay on top of things for so long (1/3 of a year). 2 months, or 8 weeks, should be more than enough for all.

hmm... how about jan/feb instead as in december you loose many days to christmas etc..

Some are busy, some have plenty free time in december. For myself, school is off in late december, and plenty holiday days. Half of the games in the last contest were submitted in december, 1/4 in jan and 1/4 in feb.

Judging collided a bit with JavaOne last year for some, so ending one month earlier might be better for getting judging done quicker. Real lifetm can naturally creep in any time, but that seems to be extra hectic. Last year we also had a few entrants on the first day, so if you think it is a bit too short time with 2 months... Well it is still lots of time till end of Jan

I suggest asking woogley to redirect to java4k.com or make clear that there is a new site, as javaunlimited is still as popular as java4k.com from what I understand.

Last year's contest was great, and there were unusually few complaints about judging which is very good. However, there contest recieved less attention than before, so I suggest doing a bit of extra promotion; perhaps announcing the start in general discussion and the likes.

I have no particular opinion on the contest's duration, either way is fine by me. :>

About the rules: Previous years have allowed changing the entry up until the deadline, so that shouldn't be a problem. But you should really ask appel or jojoh to make sure

Correct, the submissions will basically be frozen when the deadline is up, so you can go ahead and edit it until then. I would even say that it is encouraged to publish before the deadline, so that you get a chance to get feedback on any problems with different platforms and runtimes, as well as suggestions for improvements.

I don't really care if the contest is applet only or not, but I really don't understand why people are so anti-applet.It's far superior to webstart as you can just show the applets directly on web pages and not bother the player with accepting a bunch of dialog boxes.

For me, the biggest difference is what happens when programs crash (and most do at some point or another). Applets, when run with the old applet plugin, will crash your browser = not good. Webstart won't.

I don't really care if the contest is applet only or not, but I really don't understand why people are so anti-applet.It's far superior to webstart as you can just show the applets directly on web pages and not bother the player with accepting a bunch of dialog boxes.

Because I've been working really freaking hard on an app that needs to run as a server and accept connections from other players

I still don't know whether I'll get it done in time, or whether it'll fit in the 4k, but as far as I know this isn't allowed by applets.

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